goldfish with no mouth?

[modster]

I just realize my goldfish is not opening its mouth anymore. When I feed her some flake, she swim toward the food but cant open its mouth to eat it. Any idea whats wrong?

[cocoa_pleco]

might have had mouth rot. I bought one of my platys like that, and hes fine now

[modster]

hmm... what kind of medication do you recommend? should i add some salt too?

[cocoa_pleco]

if its bad, use salt, and melafix and pimafix

[modster]

i dont know if its bad or not. but i am worry that its going to starve to dead.

[cocoa_pleco]

he can go for up to 1 month without food, so he should be okay

[hungryhound]

Can you clarify something, as I believe theri is a misunderstanding caused by the post title.

Does the actually have no mouth or is it simply unable to open it's mouth?

I'm not sure that your fish has mouth rot. Does it present any of the following characteristics
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
Mouthrot / Mouth Fungus

This is caused by a bacterium, Flexibacter Columnaris. The symptoms of this disease are typically erosion of the mouth, commonly associated with a fungal like growth, which is in fact colonies of the column-like bacteria. Like finrot, mouthrot is associated with poor water conditions which must be corrected.

Are their any other characteristics that are out of the ordinary and what are your water parameters?

[modster]

i mean she is unable to open its mouth. Actually, i think it opens slightly but i am not exactly sure. I don't think it's mouth rot because i dont see any noticable change. The fin and tail are fine. Some nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite are zero. Sorry i dont have exact readings because i am using test strips. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[hungryhound]

It didn't sound like cotton mouth to me, but unfortunately it doesn't sound like anything else that i know of, and Like you I cannot find anything on google. I hope you figure out what it is and one of the more knowledgeable posters are able to diagnosis it.

If I had to guess, I would say that cocoa plecos suggestion to add melafix and primafix and might not be a bad thing. It seems to be that something it affecting the muscles that control the jaw. IF it is bacteria, or fungal those meds should kill it.

[gm72]

Interesting, I have never come across anything like this before. I will be interested to hear your outcome, and will hope to goodness that it is a positive one!

Agreed with cocoa as usual. Medicate and see where that gets you. Food intake is indeed not a problem presently.

[xoolooxunny]

I think there is the possibility that it could be fish TB. 3 of my giant danios had it, and 2 of them had a mouth that was stuck open, since the bacterial infection can affect the bone structure of the fish. Has it been through any stress before the mouth issue? Sometimes the bacteria infection advances rapidly under stressful conditions. In my case, the fish probably carried it for months, but then the first 50%+ water change stressed them out, and i lost 2 within that following week.

[modster]

What's fish TB? Is there anything that i can do to save my fish?

[Drumachine09]

Fish teburculosis (sp?)

I would be careful, because you too can catch TB from them, not to mention the other fish. Ive never heard of a goldie with it. Just small fish like live bearers, danios, cardinals, and the like.

[cocoa_pleco]

a goldfish getting TB? not too likely. Goldies are mainly prone to ich and hemorrhagic septicemia

[modster]

Fish teburculosis (sp?)

I would be careful, because you too can catch TB from them, not to mention the other fish. Ive never heard of a goldie with it. Just small fish like live bearers, danios, cardinals, and the like.
That TB? Ok, I am scare now. Is there a way to make sure my fish isnt going to affect my family's health?

Edit: after some googling, it seems to me that fish TB is a skin disease to human rather than lung and the only way to get it is from direct contact with the water. Am i correct?

[cocoa_pleco]

i kinda doubt it's TB. If hes really hunched, i guess euthuanise him.

10/10 doctors have found a link from the fish TB to the human. In tests, humans who touched the fish got the Tb and inanimately died from it. If you directly touch the fish, youre pretty much done for, but if you catch it just get rid of the fish in the garbage and watch your other fish. Im not meaning to scare you in any way, sorry if i am.

lots of us here have dealt with fish TB. chrona sadly had to tear down his 10g because his cardinals had TB, and a few months ago my danios got a wild spread of it. Both of us are still here today.

[modster]

What are the signs of fish TB on human and fish? Gee, I didn't know keeping fish has such a risk.

[cocoa_pleco]

TB is really the only risk and its easy to avoid. If the fish has a curved spine bad, thats TB. If a fish had TB and you picked it up with your hand and held it for a few minutes, you would get the TB. if you just net him out and euthuanise him then stick him in the garbage, youre fine

[modster]

So does curve spine always shows on fish with fish TB? My fish's spine is perfectly normal. But I have read other sympthoms online and my fish has two of them, discoloration and shrunken belly. Those appeared after she laid eggs a month ago. I just thought she was just weaken after laying eggs.

OK, let's assuming the worst case scenario and she does have fish tb. The only way for me to get the disease is by touching it? What about the water/vapor? The tank is in my bedroom and I probably breathe the vapor more than 10 hours a day. Also, how long can a fish with fish TB last? She's the only fish in the tank and I dont have to worry about she contaminating other fish.

[Lady Hobbs]

If your fish shows no sign of whiteness around the mouth, then mouth fungus is probably out. You may have to take him out and look in his mouth for a stone. Goldfish are good at picking up stones.

[modster]

the stone that i am using is way too big for her to pick up. Does anyone have answers to my questions?

[cocoa_pleco]

i think the problem is maybe dropsy then. The shrunken belly is a big give away and he doesnt want to eat. Sounds like dropsy

[modster]

she does want to eat... but can't. she always swim toward the food and try to eat it. The area between her gill and mouth is moving but her mouth wont open.